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Molecular and cellular mechanisms of Mycobacterium avium-induced thymic atrophy.

ABSTRACT: Thymic atrophy has been described as a consequence of infection by several pathogens and shown to be induced through diverse mechanisms. Using the mouse model of Mycobacterium avium infection, we show in this study that the production of NO from IFN-?-activated macrophages plays a major role in mycobacterial infection-induced thymic atrophy. Our results show that disseminated infection with a highly virulent strain of M. avium, but not with a low-virulence strain, led to a progressive thymic atrophy. Thymic involution was prevented in genetically manipulated mice unable to produce IFN-? or the inducible NO synthase. In addition, mice with a selective impairment of IFN-? signaling in macrophages were similarly protected from infection-induced thymic atrophy. A slight increase in the concentration of corticosterone was found in mice infected with the highly virulent strain, and thymocytes presented an increased susceptibility to dexamethasone-induced death during disseminated infection. The administration of an antagonist of glucocorticoid receptors partially reverted the infection-induced thymic atrophy. We observed a reduction in all thymocyte populations analyzed, including the earliest thymic precursors, suggesting a defect during thymic colonization by T cell precursors and/or during the differentiation of these cells in the bone marrow in addition to local demise of thymic cells. Our data suggest a complex picture underlying thymic atrophy during infection by M. avium with the participation of locally produced NO, endogenous corticosteroid activity, and reduced bone marrow seeding.

SUBMITTER: Borges M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3593108 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Molecular and cellular mechanisms of Mycobacterium avium-induced thymic atrophy.

Borges Margarida M Barreira-Silva Palmira P Flórido Manuela M Jordan Michael B MB Correia-Neves Margarida M Appelberg Rui R

Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 20120824 7

Thymic atrophy has been described as a consequence of infection by several pathogens and shown to be induced through diverse mechanisms. Using the mouse model of Mycobacterium avium infection, we show in this study that the production of NO from IFN-γ-activated macrophages plays a major role in mycobacterial infection-induced thymic atrophy. Our results show that disseminated infection with a highly virulent strain of M. avium, but not with a low-virulence strain, led to a progressive thymic atr ...[more]

PMID: 22922815

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Project description:Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) infection is established following the ingestion of bacteria, their penetration of the intestinal mucosa and subsequent events of the host-parasite interaction. These bacteria invade M cells, macrophages and are capable of resisting host defenses and multiply to reach very high numbers intracellular. Mycobactrium avium subsp. avium (MAA) is an antigenically and genetically similar organisms but is relatively nonpathogenic for cattle. MAA organisms appear to infect cattle, but unlike cattle infected with MAP, cattle infected with MAA typically mount an effective systemic immune response, form caseous granuloma, and eliminate the infection. This study was designed to understand the similarities and differences in the host responses during MAP and MAA infection. Neonatal calves were infected (ligated ileal loops) with PBS, MAP, or avirulent MAA following which samples were collected at 30 min, 1h, 2h, 4h, 8h, or 12h. Post-infection, RNA was collected, processed, and then hybridized to custom bovine gene expression arrays, each of which represented 13,258 transcripts spotted in duplicate. Arrays were normalized by scaling against the average reference intensity value (i.e., average across all arrays), normalized by global mean, and then log transformed before statistical analyses were performed. Pairwise comparisons of averaged signal values and Student’s t test were performed using GeneSifter software (VizX Labs, Seattle, WA). A fold-change of at least 1.5-fold and a p value of 0.05 or less was required for a difference in signal to be considered statistically significant. When comparing the transcriptional responses of calves infected with the MAA versus MAP, unique patterns of expression were clearly visible. In general, numbers of transcripts altered in response to infection were much greater for MAA-infected animals than for those infected with the MAP. No genes were significantly up-regulated in MAP-infected animals at the earliest time point tested (30 min), and only modest numbers of genes were increased in expression over the experimental time course. On the other hand, up-regulated transcripts were detected by 30 min in MAA-infected animals and peaked by 2 hr. Differences in the numbers of down-regulated genes between MAP-infected and MAA-infected animals (compared to PBS-infected controls) were less pronounced. At the earliest time points, MAP-infected calves had a greater number of down-regulated genes than did animals infected with MAA. This trend was reversed at 8 and 12 hr post-infection. Keywords: Gene expression profiling by microarray

Dataset Information

Molecular and cellular mechanisms of Mycobacterium avium-induced thymic atrophy.

Publications

Molecular and cellular mechanisms of Mycobacterium avium-induced thymic atrophy.

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